Hiro Tonai

Hiro Tonai
Tonai in June 2012
Born (1983-10-08) October 8, 1983 (age 41)[1]
Osaka, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Hiro Tonai
Billed height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Billed weight83 kg (183 lb)
Trained byTaka Michinoku
Debut2006
Retired2018

Hiro Tonai (ヒロ・トウナイ, Hiro Tounai) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler best known for his tenure with Kaientai Dojo. He is also known for his work in various promotions of the Japanese independent scene.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Kaientai Dojo (2006–2018)

Tonai made his professional wrestling debut in Kaientai Dojo at K-DOJO Club-K Tour In Nagoya on May 26, 2006, where he teamed up with Saburo Inematsu in a losing effort against Miyawaki and Yoshiya in a tag team match.[4]

During his twelve-year tenure with the company, he won three major championships promoted by it. One of them is the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship, which he first won at Club-K Super Overthrow on December 16, 2011, alongside his "Little Galaxy" stablemate Yuki Sato by defeating Ryuichi Sekine and Saburo Inematsu.[2] He has held the titles on one more occasion, this time alongside another Little Galaxy long time tag team partner and stablemate Shiori Asahi, with whom he won the titles again at KAIENTAI DOJO’s 10th Anniversary in Osaka on June 17, 2012, by defeating Saburo Inematsu and Yuji Hino.[5] Another championship he has held was the Chiba Six Man Tag Team Championship which he won alongside stablemates Yuki Sato and Shiori Asahi at Club-K Tour In Osaka on April 30, 2011, after defeating Kaji Tomato, Marines Mask and Taishi Takizawa to become the inaugural champions.[2] As for the UWA World Middleweight Championship, he won it at Club-K Super in Korakuen Hall on November 1, 2015, by defeating Kaji Tomato.[2] He participated in various tournaments of the promotion such as the Kaientai Dojo Tag League which he won in 2009 alongside Taishi Takizawa, the BO-SO Golden Tag Tournament, K-Metal League and Kaioh Tournament.[2]

Tonai retired from professional wrestling on May 6, 2018, at K-DOJO GWSP7 after a tag team match in which he teamed up with Taishi Takizawa in a losing effort against Kaji Tomato and his trainer Taka Michinoku.[6]

Japanese independent circuit (2007–2018)

Tonai is also known for his freelancer work, having checked performances for various promotions of the Japanese independent scene. He competed in one of the largest documented professional wrestling matches, an 108-person battle royal from Tenka Sanbun no Kei: Ōmisoka New Year's Eve Special, a cross-over event promoted by Kaientai Dojo in partnership with Big Japan Pro Wrestling and DDT Pro-Wrestling on December 31, 2009. The match was won by Jun Kasai and featured various other notable wrestlers such as Thanomsak Toba, Great Kojika, Daikokubo Benkei, Sanshiro Takagi, Poison Sawada Julie, Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega and many others.[7] Tonai competed in another bout of this kind, a 74-person tag team match from New Year's Eve Pro-Wrestling 2011. Tonai was part of the winner team of thirty-seven and he teamed up with various wrestlers such as Abdullah Kobayashi, Daisuke Sekimoto, "Black Angel" Jaki Numazawa, Gentaro, Harashima, Shuji Ishikawa, Kaji Burdock and many others.[8]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2007, 2012–2013)

Tonai briefly wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a Kaientai Dojo developmental talent. He made his debut at NJPW Last Of CTU on August 26, 2007, where he teamed up with Apple Miyuki, Daigoro Kashiwa, Taku Anzawa and Teppei Ishizaka in a losing effort against the five rangers of the Control Terrorism Unit (CTU) stable.[9] He continued to make sporadic appearances for the company on the NEVER branch of events. His first appearance on one of these events took place at NJPW NEVER.9 ~ Road To The Super Junior Tournament on April 13, 2012, where he defeated Hiromu Takahashi in the first rounds. Two days later on April 15 he fell short to Madoka in the semifinals.[10] Tonai participated on two of the NJPW Tokyo Game Show 2012's nights. On the first one from September 21, he teamed up with Shiori Asahi as "Little Galaxy" to defeat Ryuichi Sekine and Saburo Inematsu. On September 23, Tonai picked up a win over Sekine in singles competition.[11] Tonai participated in the inaugural tournament of the NEVER Openweight Championship in which he fell short to Ryusuke Taguchi in the first rounds from November 15, 2012.[12] Tonai made several appearances at the NJPW Road To The New Beginning 2013. First one took place on the first night from February 2, where he teamed up with Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Kengo Mashimo) in a losing effort to Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii). It was revealed that Tonai was briefly recruited by Michinoku into Suzuki-gun.[13] His last appearance for NJPW took place at NJPW New Japan Road #1 from February 11, 2013, where he teamed up with Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer and Taka Michinoku) to defeat TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), Captain New Japan and Tama Tonga.[14]

Pro Wrestling Noah (2012–2014)

As for Pro Wrestling Noah, Tonai made his debut by competing in one of the promotion's signature events, the Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League in which he made his first appearance at the 2012 edition where he teamed up with Shiori Asahi and placed themselves in the A block of the competition where they scored a total of four points after going against the teams of Atsushi Kotoge and Taiji Ishimori, Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki, Bobby Fish and Eddie Edwards, and Gastón Mateo and Kaiser.[citation needed] At the 2013 edition, Tonai teamed up with Asahi again, this time competing in the B block of the tournament where they scored a total of two points after going against Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask, Yoshinari Ogawa and Zack Sabre Jr. Roderick Strong and Slex, and Daisuke Harada and Hitoshi Kumano.[15] Tonai and Asahi made their last appearance in the competition at the 2014 edition where they competed in the B block where they scored a total of four points after going against Daisuke Harada and Quiet Storm, Atsushi Kotoge and Taiji Ishimori, Hitoshi Kumano and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya, and Jinzo and Rocky Lobo.[16] At NOAH One Day Cruise on May 3, 2014, Tonai and Asahi unsuccessfully challenged Atsushi Kotoge and Taiji Ishimori for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[17]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Hiro Tonai • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Hiro Tonai/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  3. ^ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). "Hiro Tonai Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  4. ^ 5/28 K-DOJO CLUB-K3000 GET 千葉・Ｂｌｕｅ Ｆｉｅｌｄ 観衆72人. bbm-mobile.com (in Japanese). Puroresu Mobile. May 28, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  5. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "K-DOJO KAIENTAI DOJO's 10th Anniversary in Osaka". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  6. ^ Dark Angelita (May 11, 2018). "K-Dojo:"GWSP 7" y el adiós de Hiro Tonai". superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  7. ^ Takagi, Yumi (January 1, 2010). カウントダウンプロレスに２０１０人が熱狂=天下三分の計 史上空前の１０８人ランブルでハッピーニューイヤー. Sportsnavi (in Japanese). Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  8. ^ "New Year's Eve Indy Supershow 2011". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  9. ^ "NJPW Last of C.T.U." thesmackdownhotel.com. TheSmackDownHotel. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  10. ^ "NEVER．9 ～Road to the Super Jr. 2Days Tournament 1st．～". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  11. ^ Dark Angelita (September 20, 2012). "NJPW: Resultados NJPW «TOKYO GAME SHOW 2012» – 20/09/2012". superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  12. ^ "NEVER". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  13. ^ "NJPW Road to the New Beginning Tour Lineups". 411mania.com. January 15, 2013. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  14. ^ New Japan Pro Wrestling (February 11, 2013). 2013年2月11日(月) 16:00開場 17:00開始 大阪・大阪府立体育会館・第二競技場 1,950人（超満員札止め）. njpw.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  15. ^ Dark angel (July 29, 2013). "Pro Wrestling NOAH: Results «NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League 2013» - Day 10 - Grand Final". superluchas.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  16. ^ Dark angel (July 26, 2014). "Pro Wrestling NOAH: NTV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League Results -25 / 07 / 2014- Day 6". superluchas.com. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  17. ^ Daly, Wayne (May 4, 2014). "NOAH Results: One Day Cruise – Tokyo, Japan (5/3)". wrestling-news.net. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  18. ^ Wrestling Titles. "Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  19. ^ Wrestling Titles. "Chiba 6-man Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved January 22, 2024.